Hey this is Reuben with Competition Accessories and we just wanted to make a quick video on how you change the face shield out on the Arai helmet. A lot of people get intimidated by Arai helmet face shields because of the side pod they have where you cant see whats going behind it. What we have done on this helmet here is we installed a clear pod so we could give you a better look at the inner workings of the base plate mechanism and show you how it works. Basically to remove the face shield what I want you to see is this little gray lever here, there are one of those on each side of the helmet. When you raise your shield to the top position those will pop out. Now if your helmet is a little older or a little worn out they might not pop all the way out like a brand new helmet. With the face shield all the way up you just need to lift those levers all the way up. Once you have lifted those until they click, to take the shield off is very simple, you are just going to grab it from the top , rotate it back and pull it off. It comes right off really quickly. You will see guys out at the track if you watch racing at all like the isle of man for instance, they will pull into the pits and they swap face shields on or off in just a matter of seconds. It is one of those things you have to get the hang of. To reinstall the shield is a little trickier, there is a horse shoe shape cut out on the end of the shield here, that's going to line up with the top curve on the helmet or the pod and with the clear ones you can see the round tab that its going to slide over. Your going to slide that in on both sides and its not going to really click or anything, you just have to get it down and on to there like that. Once its in I find it easier to have the helmet facing away from you and then you are just going to close the shield. When you close the shield what happens is this opening this cut out right here slides over that little notch right there, so that is what limits the shield as It opens. That's how to change the Arai face shield out, hopefully that helps you out. You can go to our youtube channel if you click on this link in the upper right hand corner and subscribe to us. We have a lot detailed videos on helmets and other products. You can also check us out on facebook and check us out online, see you next time.

Hey guys this is Reuben with Competition Accessories and welcome to our review of the Arai RX-Q. Now if you have been around on our website for a while you may have seen the older Arai RX-Q video we had and it was out of date and I wanted to do a better one, the older one was from before my time so lets get into the details of the Arai RX-Q. Arai calls it the ultimate street helmet, they have taken a lot of inspiration from the RX-7 line or the Corsair V which is their high end race helmets. It is a replacement for the Quantum 2 which was a very popular helmet choice. It is an all new model, if you are in Europe you probably know this one as the Quantum ST. Some specific changes from the Quantum 2 in mainly the head shape. Unfortunately a lot of riders are not happy with that, if you have a very round head shape in other words you have a lot of width to your head and just a very round shape, that's what the Quantum 2 was designed to fit. The RX-Q is an intermediate oval, so if that's your case and you want an Arai helmet the RX-Q is going to be your best bet in that line up. The intermediate oval is what Arai finds to be what most people are most comfortable wearing. You are going to spend anywhere from 500 to 700 dollars on the RX-Q depending on the graphic or the solid that you go with. First of all lets talk about the weight I have a scale we can throw it on and you can see it is fairly average for a motorcycle helmet, it is 3.5 lbs. This helmet is not super heavy but also not super light either. However when you have this on your head, it is designed for comfort, long distance riding, and high performance riding as well. The reason it doesn't feel super heavy when its on your head is it actually has a very low center of gravity and that's thanks to this hyper ridge that is built in along the base of the shell. Arai also does something that is unique that a lot of other helmet manufacturers don't do is they maintain the same shell thickness all the way down to the bottom of the shell. That provides again a low center of gravity but also some additional support and structure in the base of the shell. That hyper ridge also provides an additional level of rigidly along the base of the shell, so if you take a hit along this area on the shell, the shell is designed to spread impact so its going to spread that impact as far as it can so you don't want it to continue down passed the shell. Sometimes you can see a less expensive helmet in a bad crash will leave a crack down in this area here because there is no more support for the shell to continue to spread that impact. This hyper ridge will help transfer that impact back up the helmet so its not transferred to your body. I have a raw shell here that is a unique thing to take a look at and it is an RX-Q shell and it is actually hand laid fiberglass. All Arai helmets are hand made and they have true artisans and craftsman that build these shells to exact specifications. These helmets go through three separate quality control checks throughout there manufacturer and they do some really neat things. Not only that hyper ridge along the base of the shell but also peripheral belting. Anytime you have any kind of hole in the shell for ventilation or for the face shield it is a weak point so they provide additional belting along those areas to provide additional rigidity to the shell so they can manage that impact as best as possible. Another thing you can see is they take the same shape as an egg and that's something Arai has done for years, the rounder the helmet the more strong it is going to be and also your not providing for any means of catching on the pavement or the ground in a form of a crash. The purpose for that is so it will slide right along the ground and wont catch and cause even more injury because of it catching. Even the vents on the top of the helmet and the spoiler on the back are designed to break away in an accident. They are attached with basically and industrial double sided tape so it is stuck on very well for regular use but in accident it will break off. Taking a look at the inside you can see the reinforcement here, they do put on a spoiler and drill holes for the vents. Again just a very very strong shell construction. Last thing I want to talk about on this raw shell is you can see where most helmets have a significant recess where they would install the base plate mechanism for the shield, you may notice all Arai's use this pod system which is essentially a cover over the base plate and that's because the base plate does not sit or does not have a home in the shell. It has a very shallow recess where that goes where as most helmets use all sorts of springs and other things to clip a shield in which requires a little bit more of a detente in the shell itself. Arai's method is to try and keep that round organic shell shape consistent so you don't compromise on the shell strength and protection. The EPS liner is no different it is a one piece EPS liner and the one I have here has several different colors that's not what you would see traditionally from the factory, they usually cover them in a black coating. This one details the different types of foam that are used and you can see its the one piece liner so a lot of times you will see other manufactures claim they have a two piece EPS liner or a multi-density EPS liner where what they have found over the years in all helmets different impacts require different types of foam. When we see a serious impact you want that foam to be able to absorb the impact along with the duration of that impact which is going to require a firmer foam or multiple impacts that Snell 2010 requirement is for it to absorb the same impact multiple times. The liner takes different densities of foam especially along the face shield area and chin bar. The biggest thing with Arai is it is a multiple density one piece liner. They do not use any glue on softer foam they make it so everything works as one and uniformly. Lets talk about the ventilation it is fairly straight forward it does have some really nice features to it. You do have a chin bar vent that directs air up onto the face shield to prevent fogging. There are pinlock shields available for this no anti fogging coating on the inside of this helmet so it will fog up on you if you don't do something about it you can get the pinlock insert and that is just the way Arai has chosen to go with there anti-fog, the advantage there is no anti-fog coating to wear off over time. Arai face shields do run a little bit more money as well. A lot of that is thanks to the face shield vents. The reason they put these vents on the face shield so it does not compromise the safety of the helmet. They know that the shell is already weak due to the eye port so they did not want to take any more away from that shell construction. The vents on the face shield channel the air through air passages that go throughout the helmet. This also vents to your temple area where a lot of helmets fail to direct air. You do have two chimney style vents on the top, it does have ram air type scoops that will push air down into the helmet. If you look at the back of the helmet there are some exhaust vents. This is the most effective way to keep a helmet cool because it draws the warm air right out the back of the helmet by creating an area of low pressure and it acts like a vacuum. You also have some static ports on the back here and it functions by also drawing the warm air right out the helmet. Finally out the base of the neck roll your also getting some exhaust vents, so that air that is pushed in will be able to flow through the entire helmet all the way out the back to keep you comfortable. Lets talk about removing the face shield because there is not a base plate system to use to remove the shield. What you do is you open this all the way and a little gray lever will pop right out. There is one on each side on the shield, all you do is simple pull up on those levers until they click and then once you have done that you can take the face shield and continue rotating it up and it will come right out. Very easy to remove and replace it just takes some practice to get used to it. Finally to replace it you will see there is a notch and you want to point that top corner to the top corner on the pod here. You simply push the shield back in until it does go any further and then close it and that's it so its back in and ready to go. There is no ratcheting system on an Arai face shield its just a smooth friction. Lets take a look at the inside at the features of the Arai RX-Q. First and for most it is a fully removable interior so you can pull this out you can wash it, or replace it if you need too. Another thing you will notice is they have brought over their emergency cheek pad release system from their race helmets, so it provides EMT's a way to remove the helmet without causing further neck injuries. You can see you just pull on that tab and the cheek pad is going to come right out of the helmet. You will see the orange tab has a note to notify emergency staff how to operate it. They can pull those right out while you are still wearing the helmet. What that does is it provides a much larger area for them to remove the helmet without them to cause further neck injury, you can see the neck roll comes right off as well. Now you see how much larger that opening will be so they can slide the helmet right off of your head. One thing that is unique about Arai helmets as well is when you pull the cheek pads out that is actually the raw shell, they actually put the EPS foam liner on the cheek pads itself. This is going to do a really good job at absorbing impact and you can see it is labeled 30mm which is the size of the cheek pads. Of course you can go up or down with the size depending on how they fit for you. What Arai has that is very unique is two things a facial contour system and a customizable cheek pad. There is a thin piece of foam here that can be removed or taken off. This helps for better fitment with the helmet if it is causing you be uncomfortable and it causes any pressure points. This is one way of customizing the fit of the helmet without having to go out and by brand new cheek pads. You will also notice they use different densities of foam throughout the construction of the cheek pad and they use their facial contour system. What this actually does is craddle you face and makes for better fitment of the helmet. You can remove the liners of the chin strap as well they just have a little yellow snap at the top, this is another area if your sweating a lot you want to be able to clean these up. The crown liner itself is attached with a couple of snaps and Arai uses a very low profile snap design. You will see some manufacturers have more larger snaps and that can get uncomfortable at times. The snaps from Arai actually stick to the snaps in the EPS liner and they run flush to the shell. You are getting very high levels of construction here with lots of different types of material to absorb moisture and wick it away from your head and also provide for lots of ventilation. They do this so when air does come inside the helmet it has a lot of space to transfer to your head and keep you comfortable. Last but not least you can see the interior here as I mentioned it is painted black for the factory model so it does look nice and finished. One thing you might be able to see here is you can see the exhaust port for that intake vent for vent on the face shield. This will direct air through a tunnel and down around to the side of your temple. You see the cheek pad is attached with a nice secure attachment point and it goes right into the shell itself. Last but not least you do have a small chin spoiler built in which you may think is kind of on the smaller side but what is really neat is you can extend it. Little attention to detail like this is what sets Arai different from other manufacturers and im not saying that there arent other good helmet manufacturers, definitely shop around and watch other product videos but the attention to detail that Arai puts into safety its very apparent in their construction. They are going for safety above all else. They don't look for any modern wild designs they look for safety first. You get a lot of bang for the buck even though it is a lot of bucks, Arai helmets will last you a long time. If you have any questions about them we have a lot of experienced people on the phone here at Competition Accessories and you can give us a call or shoot us an email, leave us a comment on our youtube channel and we will get back to you. Don't forget to like our facebook page and also if you subscribe to our youtube channel you with stay up to date with all of our product and video reviews. Last but not least even though this is expensive you can also earn up to 5% comp a cash back on future purchases. Thanks for watching this review of the Arai RX-Q and we will see you next time.

Information and Details about the Arai RX-Q UK Flag Helmet made by Arai

Arai RX-Q UK Flag Helmets are an all around solid choice in a helmet, and are an absolute must have! Arai RX-Q UK Flag Helmets are redesigned for the 2010 SNELL standards and in doing so, give a better overall fit for consumers. In a standard 5 size shell instead of 3, Arai RX-Q UK Flag Helmets are now more fitted to the wearer's head and offer more comfort and less of a balloon head feel. Smartly redesigned for an ever-changing market of consumers, the Arai RX-Q UK Flag Helmet is a good pick for anyone looking for a solidly made, highly dependable helmet. Click on the Video tab above to watch our review of the Arai RX Q Helmet!

Arai RX-Q UK Flag Motorcycle Helmet is designed for the street, yet keeps the benefits of a racing helmet intact.

Features:

Completely new helmet based on Corsair V shell

Same wider eyeport opening as Corsair V

Same face shield as the Corsair V

Intermediate Oval Fit (same head shape as Quantum 2)

Slightly different feel due to new cheek pads

New cheek pads come down further and cradle the head better

Made of a different density material which results in an extremely comfortable and quiet helmet

Competition Accessories is a company of core motorcycle and ATV enthusiasts who are dedicated to bringing the best possible shopping experience to every rider that visits our stores. After all, We've been shipping motorcyclists their motorcycle helmets, motorcycle jackets, gloves, boots and other motorcycle accessories for over 50 years. You don't hang around that long in any business without taking care of your customers and changing with the times. So trust that we will deliver and if we screw up, we will make it right... We promise!